Psyche's Heart : CUPID'S MATCH BOOK 3

Chapter 8

I lie in darkness for a while – the black sheets soft on my skin. The only light creeps dimly through the crack beneath the bedroom door. Mino's strange home is silent – but my head is filled with noise. My thoughts loop over the events of the past few hours; Valentine, the fight with the Furies, and Mino's promise that he would take me through the labyrinth of my mind – if I asked him to.

My loyalty will always lie with those in the shadows.

His words about me, and darkness should unnerve me, scare me - offend me even. But they don't.

Because I think I've started to believe they're true.

I shift on the bed, my head sinking further into the pillow. I feel like there are two sides of me battling within; one half urges me to tell Mino the truth about my dream earlier. I want to tell him that the man I killed stood inches away from me in his torn blue shirt, damp with ocean water. I want to tell him how his blue eyes danced with humor as they bore into mine. And how it felt so real I could smell him – salt and sweat and a hint of the sea.

But the other half wants...

Something deep and dark tightens inside.

I rub my face, hard. What is wrong with me?

I reach for my phone again, re-read the message from Cupid, and some of the darkness shifts. Cupid belongs to the light. And that's where I want to be – with him.

Some people belong in the shadows

Valentine belongs in the shadows. And Mino.

But I can choose to step out of them.

I make my decision and slip my legs out from the covers. I need to talk to Mino.

Barefoot I make my way to the door, open it, and step out onto the wooden floorboards of the mezzanine area. They creak beneath my feet. The light coming from the bulbs in the stairs seem dimmer than before – their glow white against the darkness. I peer over the edge of the balcony – my eyes passing over the kitchen area, and the bookshelves.

Something feels...off.

"Mino?" I say the name, but I know instantly that Mino is not here. Someone else is.

My heart seems to drop from my chest, and for a moment I feel like I'm falling as my eyes land on the leather couches by the barred window. A tall figure rises - shrouded in thick shadow. He walks into the center of the warehouse; stepping into a spotlight of white moonlight that floods through a window on a higher level.

Slowly he looks up at me. Adrenaline surges through my veins.

"Valentine," I say.

His lips curl slowly upwards and a devilish smile spreads across his face.

"Did you miss me?" he says in his gruff, growl of a voice.

I curse under my breath. I'm asleep. When did that happen?